Time Flies
by Banshi13
Summary: Steve realizes what 15 years has cost him. This is a one shot, please read and review!


1Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii Five-O, nor it's characters or scripts. I would simply like to borrow them for this story. I do, however, own Elizabeth.

**Hawaii Five-O**

"Steve?" Jenni tapped on the open door of her boss's office. There was never a dull day in Five-O headquarters, and today was certainly no exception. Currently, Steve McGarrett was leaning over his desk, staring at a map of Oahu, attempting to place where a local mob boss may have hidden a cache of illegal weapons that had made their way onto the streets.

"Steve?" She called again, a bit louder, and Steve looked up that time, frustration and exhaustion mirrored in his steel blue eyes. "Yes, Jenni, what is it?"

"There's a young woman out here to see you, should I tell her to come back later?"

Steve looked down at the map again. He desperately needed to isolate that criminals storage spaces for their guns, but he'd been staring at the map now for an hour. Perhaps a break would give him a new set of eyes when he returned to it.

"No, Jenni, show her in please."

The secretary nodded and walked back out into the lobby of the offices. "You can go on in," she informed the girl.

With a slight nod, the young lady walked forward, passing the threshold of the doorway and stopping just inside it, not sure if she should go any further, stay where she was, or sit down in one of the near by chairs. So, she simply waited until she was recognized by the tall, dark haired man.

"What can I do for you, miss..." Steve trailed off as he looked up setting his eyes on her for the first time. Wordlessly, he stepped from behind his desk and motioned for her to come forward a bit more while he walked behind her to softly shut the door. The girl still didn't say anything; she was obviously uncomfortable, nervous, as though she wasn't sure of her footing in his presence. She took a deep breath as he came into her vision again, standing before her, a stunned expression on his face.

"I...I didn't know if I should come," she stammered, her eyes falling to the floor almost immediately after she began speaking, "she...well, you know, she was sick and, well..." she swallowed the lump that was beginning to form. The death was still too raw. She'd spent the past week pushing away the pain and hurt, trying not to think about her new status in the world; alone.

"Elizabeth..." Steve was at a loss for words, trying to picture the face that was before him now, instead of the one that he remembered from so long ago. "Is she-"

"She's dead...she died; last week. The funeral was two days ago." The words rushed out of her like lava flowing swiftly from a volcano. Somehow, saying it made it more real to Elizabeth than seeing her lying in her casket at the wake a few days previous.

"Come, sit down over here," McGarrett gently took the girls arm and led her to one of the high back chairs in his office, "can I get you anything, something to drink?"

Elizabeth shook her head, mumbling a negative. She hadn't been able to eat or drink much of anything since it happened, and she knew that it showed. The anxiety she'd felt about coming here was enough to make her feel nauseous. She didn't want to find out what would happen if she coupled that with food or liquids.

As she stared at the floor, Steve took the chance to study her for a moment. It had been years since he'd seen her, almost 15 if he was being honest with himself. She'd lived in New Jersey, gone to school in New York. The last time he'd seen her, she was a hyper, happy, rambunctious seven year old with a penchant for getting into trouble, that thankfully, according to letter's from Carol, had subsided once she'd discovered reading and writing, school and boys. Elizabeth looked almost exactly like Carol. The only difference was a stronger jaw and sharp, ice blue eyes that were a carbon copy of his own. She was a far cry from the tomboy he'd seen when last he saw her. Her hair was still red, though darker now, more of an auburn ilk to it than the fiery tendrils he remembered.

"Elizabeth, have you...have you slept at all, have you eaten anything since she died?"

Again, she shook her head, and Steve sighed. So, she was like him in certain respects. When her mind was on one thing, she forgot all else, even forgot to take care of herself. "Honey, do you have a place to stay?"

This time, Elizabeth nodded numbly. "I'm at the um...I'm at the Ilikai. I thought I'd, you know...come see you, tell you what happened," she cleared her throat, "and see if I could get a job here. Maybe with the Governor's office, or maybe one of the two senators..." seeing the surprise on his face, she cracked the first smile since her mother had died. "She tried to keep me out of the public service sector, told me I should be a nurse, or a teacher, even an engineer!" she laughed at that last one, and Steve couldn't help but share a chuckle with her. An engineer...not that it wasn't a noble profession, but he hadn't known anyone in their family that ever went into something other than law or medicine.

"But you know...I didn't want to. I wanted to go into public policy, public service...politics. And when she heard that part, she breathed a little easier, I guess. I think she was afraid that I wanted to be a cop or a detective, maybe a private investigator."

"She didn't want you to live the life that I did, sweetheart," Steve explained, "it's why we didn't stay together. She didn't want to be a Navy Commander's wife. She didn't want to stay home and one day and get a call from the chaplin's office, or a visit from the Navy clergy. She didn't want that for herself, she didn't want that for you."

"I know," he watched his daughter lean back further into the chair, "it's why she took me to the mainland. When she heard that you were heading Five-O..."

"She took you to the East Coast," Steve finished for her. "Your mother and I wrote each other very often, she knew the work I did, she knew that many of the crime syndicates in Hawaii also have mainland operations in Los Angeles and other cities in California. So, to protect you-"

"She moved me to Jersey," this time Elizabeth finished, a grim smile on her face, "still...it wasn't fair."

"No, it wasn't," Steve agreed, "it wasn't fair for anyone, but it was especially cruel for you."

"But she felt it had to be done."

Steve nodded. "Yes. I'd been in the Korean War, Naval Intelligence, and that, for Carol, was bad enough, but when she found out I was heading Hawaii's special police force...that synched it. She didn't want you around my work, around my life style, she didn't want to live with the constant press and the danger that came with that...she didn't want any of that for you. And you know what?"

Elizabeth looked at him. "What?"

"It was the right decision. I wouldn't have been able to be the father you needed, not while I was still in the Navy. And then, me hopping over to Five-O...your life here would have been very constricted. In New Jersey and New York, you were free from all of that."

"Still..." Elizabeth shook her head, "you're my father, and I don't even know you. You don't know me at all-"

"Oh yes, I do, I know you a little bit, a bit more than you think," Steve countered, "your report cards? Your mother mailed me a copy each term, so I know that you are an incredibly bright, intelligent, young woman. That fight that you got into in junior high, I know you don't let anyone push you around, I know you can take care of yourself. I know that you graduated from NYU with a degree in political science and public policy, and I know from some of your letters to me over the years that you're a kind, sweet, well mannered, independent woman." He grasped her shoulders and helped her to stand, wrapping his arms around her once she was on her feet.

"It's not the same, it's not nearly the same as watching you grow up, I know. But I do know you, and I want to know more of you." He felt a damp spot on his neck, and right after, he heard her finally begin to cry. He knew that it was the first time she'd grieved for her mother since her passing; he could tell by how tightly she held to him and how choked her sobs were. And oddly, even though she was so depressed, for whatever the reason, it felt good to finally hold his grown daughter in his arms, it felt good to comfort her physically, rather than have to pick up a pen and think of what to say in a letter to her.

When he heard her cries diminish to soft whimpers and sniffs, he trailed rough fingers through her hair. "Why don't you go back to your hotel, pack up your things and check out, then come back here?"

She looked at him dumbly. "Why?"

"Because no daughter of mine will stay in a hotel when I live five minutes from here," he picked her purse up and handed it to her, "when you come back, I'll give you my set of keys and directions to my house. You can stay there and make yourself at home until I get there." He opened the door for her and began to show her out, but she stopped.

"When might that be?" she asked, looking up at him hopefully. Elizabeth hadn't seen her father in such a long time. If she could just have one night with him, to stay up and talk, she'd be satisfied. She knew her father's life as a cop; news about him had made all the major papers on the East Coast from time to time, but they could never tell her enough about him.

Steve, for his part, was about to tell her it was going to be another late night, but he caught the hopeful glint in her eyes, and immediately relented. He'd spent 15 years of her life on the other side of the planet, and now she was here with him, wanting live and work in Hawaii. He was not about to let the chance to get to know his daughter slip away again.

"I'll be home before dark, you have my word," he promised solemnly, motioning to Jenni, "would you get one of the men to escort her to her hotel and then back here, please?" Nodding, Jenni got on the phone, and soon, a uniformed police officer was waiting at the main office door.

"Charlie here is going to take you to your hotel, then back here and to my house," Steve explained, walking her over to him, "if you have any questions about the area, I'm sure Charlie will be more than happy to answer them."

"Oh, yes, Sir, Mr. McGarrett," Charlie tipped his hat, flashing Elizabeth a charming smile, "anything for a pretty lady such as yourself."

As Charlie and Elizabeth walked out the door, Danny walked in, looking over his shoulder at the woman as he walked over to McGarrett. "Steve?" he inquired, noticing the not-quite-there look in his boss's eyes.

"Can you believe 15 years ago, she wasn't much taller than your waist, Danno?" he murmured softly, and it would have only been Danny that could have heard the twinge of regret there.

"Time flies, doesn't it?" he replied, handing Steve a batch of flies. "It sure does," the cop looked down at the notes.

"What've we got, Danno?"


End file.
